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 “Did he apologize to you, Waddie?” asked the colonel, turning to
his hopeful.
“He said he was sorry, and I told him to get down on his knees
and beg my pardon,” replied Waddie.
“And he would not do it?” asked the indignant father, evidently
regarding it as exceedingly unreasonable in me to refuse to undergo
this trifling humiliation.
“No, he wouldn’t.”
“Very well,” replied the great man. “We shall see whether he will
or not.”
I was willing to see.
“Wolf Penniman, you are a bad boy!” exclaimed the colonel with
emphasis.
I did not dispute him.
“You have insulted me and my son.”
“I am willing to be forgiven, sir,” I answered, after a vain effort to
keep down the spirit which was rising in me. “I have apologized for
being saucy; what more can I do?”
“You must do what my son told you to do, and then confess that
you helped blow up the canal boat,” replied he, more calmly than he
had yet spoken.
“I can’t do anything more, then. I know nothing about the blow-up,
and I won’t go down on my knees to anybody in this world.”
“You are an obstinate villain, and I’ll bring you to your senses
before I have done with you. Where is your father?”
“Gone to Hitaca.”
“Will you come down now, or shall I have you brought down?”
“I’ll be brought down, if it’s all the same to you, sir,” I replied,
folding my arms, and looking as impudent as I spoke.
I felt that I had given my mother’s good advice a fair trial. I had
gained nothing by apologizing, though I was not sorry I had done so.
The more I humiliated myself, the more I must; and, without meaning
to be saucy, I determined to stand up squarely for my own rights and
my own dignity.
“I’ll bring him down, if you say so, father,” volunteered the
Wimpleton junior.
“How?”
 “We can drive him out of the tree, as we did off the bridge.”
“Exactly so!” exclaimed Captain Synders. “That’s a good idea.
Since neither words nor grass will do, we’ll try what virtue’s in a
stone or two.”
The besiegers went down the stairs, and Waddie called up his
forces, ready to renew the assault. By the time they reached the
ground, I had descended to the roof of the pagoda, where the party
could not see me, and where the thick branches of the trees
protected me from their missiles. They soon found they were not
getting ahead any, and by the advice of Synders they changed their
position. With the exception of the colonel, who was too dignified to
throw stones, men and boys renewed the assault, and poured a
shower of stones upon me. Some of them hit me, and the roof
became too warm for me. I dropped down into the summer house for
safety. Finding the coast clear,—for the colonel had been forced to
retire from the foot of the stairs to avoid the stones,—I rushed down
the steps, and ran with all my might towards home. The besiegers
had been careless, and I was only too happy to take advantage of
their mistake.
I ran as fast as I could over the bridge, following the path by
which I had come. I was closely pursued; but I distanced all my
enemies. It would be useless for me to go home; for the constable
was a man of authority, and I supposed he had been sent for to
arrest me, though on what charge I could not conjecture, for
Wimpleton senior would not dare to prosecute me in a matter
wherein Wimpleton junior would be likely to suffer more than myself.
I wished to spare my mother the pain and anxiety of another
controversy in the house; and for that reason, as well as because
home was not a safe place for me, I made my way to the mill wharf,
where I had an old skiff.
I reached this boat without accident, but out of breath with the
hard run I had had. Jumping in, I pushed off, and pulled away from
the shore. For the present I was safe, for there was no boat in which
I could be pursued, nearer than the mansion of Colonel Wimpleton.
The constable and his companions did not come down to the wharf
after they saw me push off, but returned in the direction of the grove.
I rowed out upon the lake, where I could see any boat which might
put off after me. I went half way across the lake, and then concluded
that my assailants had chosen to wait for my return.
I did not exactly like to return then; it would only be putting my
head into the lion’s mouth; and I pulled for Middleport. A sail-boat
was near me, in which were several boys, one of whom presently
hailed me.
“Is that you, Wolf?” called the speaker, in whom I recognized
Tommy Toppleton.
I informed him that it was I.
“I was going over after you,” he added. “Jump aboard—will you?”
I did so, and was glad to find myself among friends, though they
were Toppletonians.
“We want you to get that engine out of the water,” continued
Tommy.
I saw the tow-boat at the wharf, with steam up, and I promised to
do the job before night—in fact, to put it through by daylight.
 CHAPTER XIV.
RAISING THE DUMMY.

“H aven’t you any one in Middleport that can raise that engine?”
I asked, with a pleasant smile, after I had taken a seat in
Tommy Toppleton’s beautiful sail-boat, with my old skiff in tow.
“Of course we have,” replied the Toppleton junior; “but I’m afraid it
will take a week for them to do it. They are talking about rigging a
derrick on the wharf.”
“You don’t need any derrick, or anything of that sort,” I added,
confidently; and I was quite satisfied that with the aid of the tow-boat
I could make good my promise.
“Do you think you can really raise the thing?” asked Tommy,
anxiously.
“I know I can.”
“Can you do it right up quick?”
“It may take an hour or so. Can I have your father’s tow-boat?”
“Certainly you can; but my father don’t know I came over after
you,” added the scion of the house of Toppleton.
“I don’t want to do anything without your father’s knowledge and
consent.”
“He won’t find any fault with anything except that you are a
Centreporter.”
“I am no more a Centreporter than I am a Middleporter now,” I
replied. “I have had a row with the powers that be on our side.”
“A row! Good!” exclaimed Tommy, his face brightening up at this
intelligence. “What was it?”
I explained what it was, telling the whole history of the blowing up
of the canal-boat, with the collateral incidents relating to the affair.
“That’s just like Wimpleton,” said Tommy. “We don’t behave in
that way on our side of the lake.”
I hoped they did not; but it was a fact patent to the people, that
Mr. Tommy, though by no means as bad a boy as Waddie, was a
spoiled child. He was overbearing, domineering, and inclined to get
into bad scrapes. Though he was willing to be my friend, and to treat
me with the greatest consideration at the present time, it was only
because he had an axe to grind; and I had not much confidence in
the professions he made to me.
“I wish you would come and live on our side,” added Tommy. “We
want just such a fellow as you are over here.”
“Perhaps I may have to live over here,” I replied. “I suppose
Waddie will not let me rest in peace after what has happened; and I
never will go down on my knees to him or any other person.”
“Don’t you do it, Wolf,” said Tommy, warmly. “If you want a dozen
or twenty of our fellows to go over and whip out the crowd that set
upon you, we will do it—won’t we, fellows?”
“I’ll bet we will,” replied the half dozen particular cronies of
Tommy who were in the boat with him.
“I don’t wish to do anything of that kind. I bear Waddie no ill will;
and if he will only let me alone, I shall never have any trouble with
him.”
“You are too easy with him. If you only licked him once, he would
respect you for it.”
I could not help thinking what the consequences would be if any
plebeian Middleporter took it into his head to “lick” Tommy Toppleton;
and it was about the same on one side of the lake as the other. It
was not prudent to thrash so much pride, conceit, and wealth, as
were embodied in the person of either of the heirs of the great
houses. The sons of poor men had to stand back, and take off their
hats to the scion of either family. Fathers’ situations and mothers’
social positions depended much upon the deference paid by their
children to the representatives of the nabobs.
“Where shall I land you, Wolf?” asked Tommy, as the sail-boat
approached the wharf, near which the dummy reposed,
ignominiously, on the bottom of the lake.
“Put me on board of the tow-boat, if you please. And you must
get the captain to do what I tell him,” I replied.
“I’ll do that. He shall obey your orders just as though you were
the owner of the steamer.”
We ran up to the tow-boat, which was about to start on a trip up
the lake with a fleet of canal boats that had gathered together. I knew
that she had on board all the rigging I needed for my bold
experiment, including some very long tow-lines. Tommy ran up to the
boat, and he and I leaped upon her deck, for I had assured him I
needed no help from the boys, or any one else.
“Captain Underwood, we want to use your boat for a while,” said
Tommy, as briskly as though he had himself been the owner of the
craft.
“Does your father say so?” asked the captain, with some
hesitation, and with the utmost deference.
“No matter whether he does or not; I will be responsible. Now go
ahead, Wolf. You can put her through by daylight.”
The captain consented to take part in the enterprise, when
informed that I was the “young engineer,”—as I had the honor to be
called,—and that I had a plan to put the dummy on shore.
“Shall I explain the plan to you, Captain Underwood?” I asked.
“No, you needn’t, Wolf, unless you wish to do so,” interposed
Tommy, impatiently.
“If you will tell me what to do, I will obey orders,” answered the
captain. “In fact, I don’t care to know anything about it; and then I
shall be responsible for nothing.”
“All right, captain. You shall not be responsible, and if I fail no
harm will be done. Have you a stout iron hook?”
“Yes; here is one on the end of this tow-line,” he replied, pointing
to a coil of large rope.
“That’s just what I want,” said I, throwing off my coat. “Now run up
to the north side of the dummy.”
Before the steamer reached the spot I had thrown off all my
clothes. Jumping into my skiff with Tommy, who was proud and
happy to have a finger in the pie, we took the tow-line on board, and
pulled to the end of the dummy, to which I made fast. I had
ascertained from my companion that there was a shackle eye in
each end of the engine, by which another car could be attached to it;
and my present purpose was to fasten the hook into this eye.
The water of Lake Ucayga is as clear as crystal, and I had no
trouble in finding the eye, which was no more than four feet below
the surface of the lake. I dropped down into the engine-room,
standing up to my neck in water, and Tommy lowered down the iron
hook. I then stooped down, disappeared from the view of the world
above me for a moment, and attached the hook to the eye.
“All right, Tommy,” said I, when I had cleared the water from my
mouth.
“Bully for you, Wolf; but I don’t see how you are going to put the
thing on shore,” replied he.
“I’m going to do it; if I don’t I never will go on shore again myself,”
I added, as I sprang upon the roof of the dummy again.
“I should hate to fail, for the fellows are a-gathering on the wharf
to see the fun.”
“There’s no such word as fail,” I answered, leaping into the boat.
“Now pull for the tow-boat, and let me put on my rags again.”
I jumped upon deck, and in a few moments had my clothes on. I
glanced at the wharf, and saw that quite a number of students and
grown-up people had gathered there, as the intelligence spread that
something was going on.
“What next, Wolf?” asked Captain Underwood, bestowing upon
me a smile which seemed to indicate an utter want of confidence in
my operations.
“Go ahead, captain,” I replied, seizing the tow-line, and making it
fast at the bits provided for the purpose.
I knew what the bottom of the lake was at the Middleport wharf,
for I had been down there more than once. It was composed of hard
gravel, and almost as smooth as the surface of the lake in a calm
day. I knew that the flanges of the car wheels would cut into the
ground and make it go hard and they would run as well there as on a
hard road.
“Go ahead!” said Captain Underwood to the engineer.
“Steady, captain! Work her up gradually,” I added.
The wheels turned slowly at first, so as not to part the tow-line, or
needlessly wrench the sunken car; but in a few moments she had full
steam on. It was an anxious moment to me, and the gathering crowd
on shore watched the movement in silence.
“She starts!” exclaimed Tommy, highly excited. “She’s coming!”
“Of course she’s coming; I knew she would,” I replied, struggling
to keep down the emotions which agitated me.
 “Hurrah!” yelled Tommy, as the dummy began to follow us, as
though she were a part of the steamer.
“Starboard your helm, Captain Underwood,” I called.
“Starboard it is,” replied the captain, when he had given the order
to the wheelman.
“Keep as well in shore as your draught will let you,” I continued.
“I can’t run the boat up on the shore, Wolf,” said the captain.
“I don’t want you to do so. The dummy travels very well on the
bottom.”
“Yes; but we can’t drag it out of the water without running upon
shore with the boat.”
“I think we can, captain. At any rate, don’t let the boat get
aground,” I replied.
The steamer continued on her course till she came abreast of a
large tree growing on the shore, between which and the lake the rails
were laid down.
“Stop her!” I shouted; and my order was promptly obeyed.
The dummy was now in about six feet of water, and not more
than a hundred feet from the tree. It was headed in a diagonal
towards the railroad.
“Now, Captain Underwood, have you a heavy snatch-block?” I
asked as the boat stopped.
“I have—one used with that tow-line,” replied the obliging captain,
to whom the request indicated the nature of further operations; and I
ought to add, in justice to him, that the look of incredulity which had
played upon his face was all gone.
I took the snatch-block, with the ropes to make it fast, and the
end of the tow-line, into the skiff, and, attended by Tommy, pulled
ashore. My companion, in spite of the fact that he usually wore kid
gloves, made himself exceedingly serviceable. I rigged the snatch-
block to the tree, and passed the tow-line over the sheaf, carrying
the end back to the steamer in the boat, where I made it fast to the
stern bits.
“Go ahead, captain!” I called.
Working her up to her speed slowly and carefully, the steamer
ploughed and strained for a few moments, then went ahead. The
rope strained, but it did not part, and the dummy walked up out of the
water as though she had been a sea-horse emerging from his native
element.
The crowd which had followed the steamer cheered lustily, and
my promise was redeemed.
 CHAPTER XV.
GETTING UP STEAM.

T he enthusiastic cheering which followed the passage of the

dummy from the water to the land was grateful to me, and I
enjoyed it to a degree which I cannot express. I felt just as though
the Centreporters had cast me out, and the Middleporters had taken
me up. I was quite confident that there were many persons in
Middleport who could have raised the dummy; but no one seemed to
have thought of my plan. Perhaps few of them knew the bottom of
the lake as well as I did, for diving was one of my accomplishments;
and I had oftener gone into the water on the Middleport side than on
the other, because the beach was better.
“By gracious, Wolf! you have done it!” exclaimed Tommy
Toppleton, as I directed the captain to stop the steamer; and his
mouth and his eyes were opened as wide as if an earthquake had
rent the lake beneath us.
“Of course I have done it; I expected to do it,” I replied, as
indifferently as I could, for, however big one may feel, he does not
always like to show it.
“You have done it handsomely, too,” added Captain Underwood;
and praise from Sir What’s-his-name was praise indeed.
“I hope the Wimpleton fellows saw that,” said Tommy, puffing out
his cheeks, and looking as grand as an alderman. “It would take
them down a peg if they did.”
“I expect to catch it for helping you out,” I added, as I thought of
the wrath of Colonel Wimpleton, when he should hear that I had
been playing into the hands of the Toppletonians.
“Don’t you be afraid of the whole boodle of them,” replied Tommy,
shaking his head, as though he thought the other side would make a
great mistake if it attempted to punish me for what I had done.
“We’ll talk about that some other time,” I answered, turning my
attention to business again.
 “We haven’t quite done the work yet. We must put the dummy on
the track.”
“Can I help you any more?” asked the captain, with a deference
which amazed me.
“You may give us one more pull, if you are not in a hurry. I’m
going on shore now, and I will make a signal to start and to stop her,
with my handkerchief,” said I, jumping into the skiff with Tommy.
The dummy stood within a couple of rods of the track, which was
in readiness as far as Spangleport, five miles down the lake. We
landed, and marched in triumph through the crowd of men and boys
on the shore, though I ought to say that Tommy did the triumphal
part of the programme, and looked as grand as though he had
himself been the engineer of the movement. Scores of the students
offered their services, and as I was on the point of sending some of
them for a few planks on which to roll the dummy to the track, a
platform car, which had constituted the entire rolling stock of the
Lake Shore Railroad, rumbled up to the spot, in charge of a portion
of the students, attended by Major Toppleton himself. The car was
loaded with planks and rigging, which the Middleport magnate had
foreseen we should want.
“We’ve got her out, father!” shouted Tommy, when he saw the
major.
“I see you have,” replied the great man, with a cheerful smile.
“But we haven’t quite finished the job yet,” added the young
gentleman, bustling about as though the completion of the work
rested heavily on his shoulders. “What next, Wolf?” said he, turning
to me, and speaking in a lower tone.
“We must lay down some planks to roll it on the track with,” I
replied.
“Bring up the planks, fellows!” cried Tommy; and the students
rushed to obey his commands.
“This is Wolf—is it?” said Major Toppleton, bestowing a
patronizing glance at me.
“Yes, father; this is Wolf, and he puts things through by daylight, I
can tell you. He and I have managed this thing ourselves,” replied
Tommy, swelling with importance.
 “I’m glad to see you, Wolf. They say you have a taste for
machinery.”
“Yes, sir; I’m very fond of machinery.”
“And you live on the other side?”
“Yes, sir; my father is the engineer in Colonel Wimpleton’s steam
mill.”
“Humph!” ejaculated the major. “But you have done well, for I was
just offering a man two hundred dollars to raise the dummy. He said
it would take him three days to rig his derrick, and bring down his
capstans from Ucayga. I was talking with him when you hooked on
and dragged the thing away. You are a smart boy.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You shall not lose anything by the job, if you do belong on the
other side,” said the major, magnanimously.
“O, I don’t ask anything, sir. I only did it for fun.”
“Well, it’s good fun, at any rate,” laughed the great man. “The
boys will think you are a little god.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t have dared to meddle with it if I had not
fallen out with Colonel Wimpleton and his son.”
“Ah, indeed?” queried the major, opening his eyes, as a gleam of
satisfaction passed over his face. “We will talk that matter over when
your job is finished.”
By this time the students, who would have insulted me if I had
come among them at any other time, had brought up the planks from
the car, and I proceeded to lay a track for the dummy wheels. I
placed two lines of wide ones as far as the iron rails, sweeping them
in curves, so as to turn the engine as it neared the track. On them I
laid narrower planks for the wheels to run upon, gauging them with a
stick measured to the width of the flanges of the wheels. When all
was ready for a start, I gave the signal with my handkerchief. The
steamer paddled and splashed, the rope strained, and the dummy
started again. I directed the students to steady the planks so that
they should not slip, and in a couple of minutes, more or less, we
had the machine on the temporary track I had rigged. I waved my
handkerchief again, and the boat stopped.
“That will do, Tommy,” said I. “Tell your fellows to cast off the
snatch-block, and let the captain haul in his tow-line. We shall not
want it any more.”
“But the dummy is not on the track yet,” replied Tommy, fearful
that some delay might occur.
“We can move it on the planks easily enough without the
steamer; and she pulls so hard I am afraid she will overdo the
matter. Send a couple of your fellows off in my skiff with the snatch-
block and ropes.”
The scion of the Toppleton house liked to be “the biggest toad in
the puddle,” and he gave off his orders with great gusto to the
students, not always in as gentlemanly terms as I could have
wished, but with effect. He was promptly obeyed, without dispute. I
suggested to him that the cushions and other movable articles in the
passenger compartment of the dummy should be removed, and
placed in the sun to dry. Tommy went at the students as though the
idea was his own, and made all hands “stand around” for a moment.
I was very willing to flatter his vanity by letting him do the ordering.
There was a brake in the engine-room, and another on the
platform in the rear of the car. Tommy, at my request, placed a
student at each of them. I then rigged a long rope at the forward end
of the dummy, which was manned by a crowd of boys, while the men
who were standing by took hold at the sides and end of the car.
“Now start her, Tommy,” said I in a low tone, so as to permit him
to enjoy the pleasing illusion that he was running the machine.
“Now, all together—ahead with her!” shouted Tommy, flourishing
his arms like the director of an orchestra.
“Steady, Tommy.”
“Steady!” yelled my mouthpiece.
The dummy moved slowly forward, till the drive-wheels came to
the iron track.
“Put on the brakes! Stop her!” shouted Tommy, as I gave him the
word.
The passage of the wheels from the planks down to the iron track
involved some difficulty; but, by the aid of rocks and a couple of iron
bars, the transit was effected, and the dummy was safely deposited
on the rails in just an hour after the work began.
“Three cheers for the Lake Shore Railroad!” shouted one of the
students, in the violence of his enthusiasm, when the job was
completed.
They were given with a will.
“Three more for Wolf Penniman,” added another student; and I
was duly complimented, for which I took off my cap and bowed my
acknowledgments.
“Don’t forget Tommy,” I whispered to one of the fellows.
“Three rousing cheers for Tommy Toppleton,” called the student
to whom I had given the hint.
Perhaps some of them thought that Mr. Tommy had not done
anything to entitle him to the consideration; but the cheers were
given, and supplemented with a “tiger.”
“Fellow-students, I thank you for this compliment, and for this
evidence of your good will,” said Tommy, taking off his hat. “I have
done the best I could to help along the Lake Shore Railroad, and as
the president of the company, I am much obliged to you for this
token of encouragement. When our rolling stock was buried beneath
the wave, it was my duty to do something; and I’ve done it. I’m glad
you are satisfied with the result.”
Then Tommy was the president of the Lake Shore Railroad
Company! I did not know this before; his zeal was fully explained,
and I was all the more pleased that I had permitted him to exercise
the lion’s share of the authority.
“Three cheers for Major Toppleton,” squeaked a little fellow, who
thought the magnificent patron of the enterprise had been neglected.
The great man bowed and smiled, as great men always do when
they are cheered; but he did not take up any of our valuable time by
making a speech.
“Tommy, we want some oil and some packing,” I suggested to the
president of the road, after I had examined the machinery of the
dummy.
“Do you think you can start her up to-night, Wolf?” asked Tommy,
anxiously, after he had despatched half a dozen of his satellites for
the required articles.
“Certainly we can; you shall ride over to Spangleport, and back to
Middleport in her,” I replied. “Now let some of your fellows bring up
water to fill the boiler and the tank, and we will get up steam in the
course of an hour or so.”
 The boys returned from the steam mill with packing and oil; and,
while others were bringing wood and water, I rubbed up and oiled the
machinery. Brooms, mops, and cloths were obtained, and, under
Tommy’s direction, the passenger portion of the car was cleaned and
wiped. The engine had been well oiled before it was sent up from
Philadelphia, and I had nothing to do but wipe off the water and
lubricate the running parts. I kindled a fire in the furnace, and, when
the smoke began to pour out of the smoke-stack, the students yelled
for joy.
 CHAPTER XVI.
THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.

I was in my element—in charge of a steam-engine. Though I had

never seen a dummy before this one, I comprehended the
machinery at a glance. I hardly heard the tumultuous yells of the
Toppletonians as they manifested their joy, so absorbed was I in the
study of the machine, and in the anticipation of what wonderful
things it would do. Such an excited crowd as that which surrounded
me I had never seen, and I was obliged to close the door of the
engine-room to keep them out. I opened it with due deference when
Mr. Tommy Toppleton, the president of the Lake Shore Railroad,
made a demand for admission, but I remorselessly excluded the
board of directors and the superintendent, to their great mortification,
no doubt; but I did not know them just then.
Tommy and his father were busily engaged in a conversation
which seemed to relate to me, when I rang the bell to indicate that
the engine was ready for a start. This announcement was greeted
with the usual volley of cheers, and the young gentlemen began to
pile into the passenger apartment to a degree which perilled the
powers of the car. There were at least a hundred of them, and it was
impossible to accommodate the whole. The major directed his son to
divide them into two companies; and, though all of them manifested
a childish impatience to have the first ride, they submitted to the
arrangement. Fifty of them filled the car, and Major Toppleton and
Tommy honored me with their company in the engine-room.
“All aboard!” shouted the president.
“I think they need no such invitation,” I added, laughing.
“We must do things up in shape, you know. We are all ready now,
Wolf,” replied Tommy, highly excited.
“I don’t know anything about the road on which I am to run, Mr.
President,” I suggested, as a preparation for any accident which
might happen.
 “The road is all right, you may depend upon that,” answered
Tommy.
“Of course, if the rails happen to be spread, or anything of that
sort, we shall be thrown off the track.”
“I sent a man over it with a gauge, yesterday, and he reported it
to be in perfect condition,” interposed the major. “It would be very
unfortunate to have any accident happen, and I have taken every
precaution to guard against one.”
“I think we had better run very slowly the first time,” I replied.
“You can’t be too careful, young man.”
“Let her drive, Wolf!” said Tommy, impatiently.
I let off the brake, and opened the valve. The steam hissed in the
most natural and encouraging manner, and the dummy began to
move, amid the shouts of those on board and those on the ground.
The road was very level and straight, and the car moved as easily as
a boat in the water, though the engine made a disagreeable puffing
and twanging noise in its action.